Gardaí and regulators meet to assess legal action over X chatbot images
By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association
A series of meetings involving the Government, gardaí and regulators is to take place in the next few days to establish what legal action can be taken over sexual images reportedly produced on X.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh, the Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan said: “Existing law allows for action to be taken by An Garda Síochána and Coimisiún na Meán” against the social media platform.
He said the two bodies are due to meet on either Friday or Monday to discuss the issue.
He said the European Commission and Coimisiun na Mean are meeting on Friday, and that the Irish and European regulators needed to work together because of the “size and scale of X”.
Mr O’Donovan was asked if action would be taken against a company which has facilitated the generation of images of sexual abuse.
He responded: “It isn’t appropriate for the minister with responsibility for the regulator to tell the regulator what to do.”
Mr O’Donovan said there are “robust” laws around the creation of sexualised images of children and sending, or threatening to send images, of unconsenting adults.
However, he said the ministers would “discuss” the laws around the creation of images of unconsenting adults, if they are not shared, saying: “This is a point that needs further clarification.”
He also said: “If the adult is not, for instance, recognisable to a real person, if it’s a completely AI generated person, there could potentially be an issue there.
“And if there is, that loophole will be closed.”
He said a meeting convened by the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste which will be attended by “relevant” ministers early next week where they will discuss whether the generation of these images is illegal.
He said the issue is “being taken at pace by the Taoiseach and Tanaiste”.
When pushed as to whether he would be taking the same approach if an Irish company was responsible for producing these images he said “absolutely, the Government would be doing the same thing”.
He said gardaí currently have 200 cases related to the issue under investigation “and some of those are likely to be brought before the courts, and I don’t think I want to say anything, or you should say anything, or anyone should say anything that would jeopardise a conviction”.
When asked “has X done anything illegal by facilitating the generation and the sharing of images?”, Mr O’Donovan replied: “That’s a matter for An Garda Siochana to investigate under the existing law.”
He said that if any further recommendations come from them or other public bodies investigating the matter “it’s been made very clear that the Government will act”.
